The electrical infrastructure of a modern aircraft typically includes numerous modular electrical devices located throughout the aircraft's body. High density connector assemblies are commonly utilized to interconnect these modular electrical devices. For example, a high density PC card-to-board connector assembly may be utilized to connect a circuit card, which is mounted at a first location within the aircraft, to a processor-carrying circuit board, which is mounted at a second location within the aircraft. A representative high density connector assembly includes a male connector (commonly referred to as a “plug”) and a female connector (commonly referred to as a “receptacle”). The plug and receptacle each carry a particular number and type of contacts (e.g., 9, 15, 25, or 37 pin-type or socket-type contacts). When the plug and receptacle are properly connected, each plug contact matingly engages a corresponding receptacle contact to permit the exchange of electrical signals and current.
To maintain the proper spatial orientation of the plug and receptacle, many connector assemblies are further provided with first and second jacksets disposed on opposing sides of the contact array. Each jackset includes a jackscrew guidepost, which may be rotatably mounted through the plug, and a jackscrew, which may be rotatably mounted through the receptacle. The jackscrew guidepost may have a slotted head, a hexagonal socket head, or other standardized connector head. To connect the receptacle to the plug, a technician first aligns each jackscrew guidepost with its corresponding jackscrew. Utilizing his or her fingers or a generalized tool, such as a screwdriver or hex key (e.g., an ALLEN® wrench), the technician begins to rotate a first jackscrew guidepost, which threadably engages its mating jackscrew. After several turns of the first jackscrew guidepost, the technician then rotates the second jackscrew guide post, which threadably engages its mating jackscrew. The technician alternates between rotation of the first and the second jackscrew guideposts until the inner face of the plug abuts the inner face of receptacle to complete connection of the connector assembly.
Manually connecting connector assemblies in the manner described above is a tedious and time consuming task, especially when performed repetitively to connect the numerous connector assemblies included within a typical aircraft electrical system. In addition, when the jackscrew guideposts are turned independently, damage to the contacts may occur if one jackscrew guidepost is over-rotated relative to the other jackscrew guidepost. Damage to a single connector contained within a connector assembly may necessitate replacement of the entire connector assembly.
Considering the above, it would be desirable to provide a specialized tool (referred to herein as a “dual screwdriver”) for connecting and disconnecting high density electrical connector assemblies of the type described above. It would also be desirable for such a dual screwdriver to rotate a pair of jackscrew guideposts simultaneously, in the same rotational direction, and at the same rotational rate to prevent the over-rotation of either jackscrew guidepost. Ideally, such a dual screwdriver would be adaptable to electrical connector assemblies of various types and sizes. For example, it would be desirable for embodiments of such a dual screwdriver to readily fit a first (e.g., 9-connector) electrical connector assembly wherein the lateral spacing between the jackscrew guideposts is relatively small, as well as a second (e.g., 37-connector) electrical connector assembly wherein the lateral spacing between the jackscrew guideposts is relatively large. It would also be desirable for embodiments of such a dual screwdriver to readily interface with jackscrew guideposts having various head types, including slotted head types and hexagonal socket head types. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent Detailed Description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this Background.